Page 30 of Dominance

I let them browse for a little while, watching Ciro chatter on, Ero inspecting the guns, the gear. They’re excited, fired up.

Looking at my brothers, I wonder at the men they’ve become.

The twins barge right into an underground weapons depot like they own the fucking place. Even if they technically do.

It’s been this way our entire lives.

Those two practically burning down the house, taking things that don’t belong to them, stealing each other’s toys. I never really cared. It was easier to let them keep themselves busy.

Until it fell to me to handle them, discipline them while Aless was out on missions for our uncle. Then he’d come home, exhausted and try his best.

And he really did that, his best. And I followed up after.

As adults, they’re, well…

They’re still the exact same children that they were but now as they push into their late twenties, they’re a force to be reckoned with. They’re deadly, they’re smart, but they’re still impulsive.

And they still bicker like two teenage girls. Drives me insane.

Like the entire drive over here. And when they come walking back to the table and sit across from me.

“I’m just saying, you wouldn’t even have a conversation with me on the plane.”

“I was trying to watch the movie.” Ero’s voice is always so soft. Cool.

“Yeah. And then you were trying to do a sudoku, and then you were trying to take a nap.”

“You could find a hobby,” Ero says, rolling his eyes.

“My hobby is talking to you.”

“You need to findbetterhobbies.”

“I need to find betterfriends.”

“I’m your brother, not your friend. And no one can stand you for long. You get bored too easily.”

“Wow! Judas. People just can’t keep up, you mean.”

“No. I don’t.”

“See? No one gets me like you do, lil’ bro!” Ciro pours himself a glass of whiskey.

Where the hell did he get the glass or the bottle?

“Same age. To the day,” Ero continues, calmly.

“Right, but you’re a half-inch shorter than me sooo…”

“Whatever you say.”

“What?!”

“What?” Ero asks innocently.

“No, what did you just say?”

“I said, ‘Whatever you say.’”

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